Followers

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Lance LeGault Passes On

Lance LeGault, perhaps best known for playing Colonel Decker on The A-Team, died on 10 September 2012 at the age of 75.

Lance LeGault was born in Chicago, Illinois on 2 May 1937. He started work while very young, working for the railroad when he was only 13. He made his film debut in uncredited roles in the Elvis Presley movie Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962). He would also have uncredited parts in Kissin' Cousins (1964), Viva Las Vegas (1964), and Roustabout (1964). His first credited role was in The Swinger in 1966. In the late Sixties and Seventies he would appear in such films as The Young Runaways (1968), Sweet Charity (1969), Catch My Soul (1974), The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Coma (1978), and French Quarter (1978). He appeared on such TV shows as Land of the Giants, Gunsmoke, Petrocelli, The Rockford Files, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, and The Dukes of Hazzard.

It was in 1983 that Lance LeGault was cast in the recurring role of Colonel Decker on The A-Team. Colonel Decker was an Army officer assigned to try to capture The A-Team, who had been falsely accused of robbing a bank in Vietnam. He appeared in the role for three years. He also played a brief, recurring role on Dynasty, a recurring role on Magnum P.I., and a regular role on the short lived show Werewolf. In the Eighties he also appeared on such shows as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Voyagers, Knight Rider, T. J. Hooker, Airwolf, Sledge Hammer, Murder She Wrote, Paradise, Star Trek : The Next Generation, Dallas, and L.A. Law. He appeared in the films Stripes (1981), Amy (1981), Fast-Walking (1982), Iron Eagle (1986), and Kidnapped (1987).

From the Nineties into the Naughts Lance LeGault appeared in such shows as Major Dad, Columbo, Renegade, L. A. Heat, and Crusade. He appeared in such films as Shadow Force (1992), The Silencers (1996), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), Scorpio One (1998), and Stuntmen (2009).

Not only was Colonel Decker on The A-Team perhaps Lance LeGault's best known role, but he played many military men over the years. With a gravelly voice and eyes that could be described as sharp looking, he was perhaps ideal for such roles. That having been said, Mr. LeGault could play more than military men. On Werewolf he played a very different role, that of bounty hunter Alamo Joe Rogan, who would have been more at home in a Western than he would have been a military base. His recurring role on that of Dynasty was that of a mobster's henchman. Although he is best known for playing military men, then, Lance LeGault could play a good deal more.